Perfect For Each Other, But Never Meant To Be
by BetterThanburningontheceiling
Summary: Makoto was just on his way to visit some family. No way was he expecting to meet the love of his life on the way there. So how will they end up?
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

It was a rather nice day, the first in a while, and Makoto had to spend a good chunk of it riding on a train… It'd all be worth it in the end, anyway. After all, on the 11th, he was supposed to be going out with his family there to meet up with an old friend or two. It was sure to be exciting. Just thinking about it made him feel excited. It'd been so long since they'd seen each other, more than a few years even.

When Makoto got his first glimpse of that boy through the fogged up window of the train, he knew there was something different about him. For some reason, seeing this boy made his chest pound. And that only got worse as he boarded the train and headed towards the direction that the boy was sitting. The train was packed tight and it was hard to move as no one seemed concerned with those trying to find a seat.

Unconsciously Makoto found himself looked for the boy he saw earlier. It did take a moment, but his eyes fell upon that dark head of hair and immediately moved towards him. Lucky, it seemed that the seat next to him was open! But he had his bag sitting on it…

"Uhm. Excuse me?" Makoto leaned in, trying to get the boy's attention. However, it seemed he was quite focused on the book that he was reading. "Hello?" Makoto tried again, "May I please sit here? The train is going to start moving soon." The boy continued to ignore him.

"Excuse me, sir! You need to take a seat!" An attendant called.

"Sorry!" Makoto apologized, and then turned back to the boy. He couldn't help but notice how his shirt seemed to frame him rather nicely, despite him sitting down. "Will you _please _move your bag so that I can sit here?" He asked again, starting to feel a bit impatient.

Finally the boy looked up at Makoto and green eyes met deep eyes met blue. His breathing halted and heart skipped a beat or two. It was odd, suddenly getting lost in some boy's eyes, being unable to look away. Makoto felt something spark up inside him and for a moment he wondered what t could be. But then he saw the boy's eyes light up as well and he realized…

He was the one. He was Makoto's _the one. _And Makoto was his _the one_ as well. Lucky. He had known others who came across theirs, but it didn't run both ways, which would be horrendously unfortunate.

Makoto swallowed hard, unsure what to say.

"Sir!" He heard the attendant call, again. "Will you please sit!"

"Right! I'm terribly sorry!" Makoto apologizing. Once again he turned to look as the boy to ask him if he could sit next to him, but found that he had already placed his bag on the floor and had begun to read again.

Makoto smiled and took his seat and soon the train began to move. He stared down at his lap, trying to think of anything, _anything _at all to say. However, he found it difficult to speak and everything he thought to say just got caught up in his throat. So he thought it'd be best to start with the basics.

"S-so…" He clumsily stammered, "M-my name's Makoto Tachibana. And you are?"

The boy didn't look up from his reading as he dryly replied, "Haruka Nanase."

_Oh. _Makoto chuckled, "Well, isn't that funny. Both of our names are mainly feminine. You know, I usually get made fun of because of my name, so I was kind of expecting to do the same. Not that it would have mattered, I mean, I'm used to it now, so I probably wouldn't really mind if you did, anyway." Haruka didn't say anything, making Makoto feel silly. He cleared his throat and tried to start on a new topic.

"So what are you reading?" He nervously asked.

Haruka didn't reply, but he slightly lifted the cover so that Makoto could see. 'Ocean's Kiss' it read, 'by J.T. Cheyanne'. Makoto had to hold back a laugh.

Instead he asked, "Well, what's it about? Do you like it?"

"No." Haruka surprisingly instantly replied, "Actually, I hate it."

"Oh? Why?"

"Too much romance. Not what I was looking for."

"But it's called Ocean's Kiss…"

"So?"

"Doesn't that title kind of tell you that it's a romance?" Haruka didn't reply. Instead he closed the book and started looking out the window. It made Makoto fear that he had upset Haruka. "If you don't like it, why are you still reading it? He asked.

Haruka shrugged, "It beats doing nothing."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess so." Makoto paused. There was the end of that conversation… "Where are you headed?" That was the next basic conversation topic that came to mind.

"The East." Was Haruka's simple reply.

_I could have guess that much… _Makoto thought. It was becoming apparent that either Haruka wasn't much of a talker or he simply didn't want to talk right now in the first place.

And so Makoto decided to do the talking. "The East, huh? I'm headed that way as well. I have a family member I'm visiting over there. She says she lives pretty close to the ocean, so I'm really looking forward to swimming." It seemed that as soon as Makoto mentioned 'ocean', he had fully caught Haruka's attention, and then by 'swimming', Haruka was actually looking at him.

Makoto made some quick deducing, "Do you like the ocean or something, Haruka?"

Haruka paused for a moment before nodding, "Of course. I love water in general."

"Oh really? How good are you at swimming?"

Haruka shrugged, "I don't know. Pretty good, I guess."

"Really? We'll have to have a race sometime."

"When are we supposed to get off of this train?"

"Uhm. I'm not entirely sure. Why?"

"So we can have a race."

"What? Already? But don't you have somewhere you need to be?"

"Not really."

"But… No offense, but why are you here?"

"I don't know. I just felt like I had to be on this train today."

Makoto blushed and looked down. "O-oh. Is that so…"

"How long have you been a swimmer?" Haruka actually asked a question.

"Well, I wouldn't really call myself a swimmer. I mean, I don't compete or anything, and I'm not on any kind of team. I just swim casually. But I've always liked swimming ever since I was little. What about you?"

"My team went to the championships." He said almost immediately.

"Wow! That's kind of amazing! Did you win?"

He sighed, "No. We came in second."

"Oh… I'm sorry…"

"It's okay. We'll win for sure the next time." There was a sort of glow in his eyes that Makoto could only define as determination. It seemed to come out of no where and became fiery bright as soon as he proclaimed that they will definitely win. Makoto couldn't help but think that it was extremely cute. In fact, there was evidently a lot about this boy that Makoto found cute.  
"I'll be rooting for you." Makoto smiled, pushing all thoughts to just kiss Haruka right then and there out of his head.

Haruka nodded, "Thanks."

He, surprisingly, was the one to ask another question. His gaze travelled back out the window as he asked, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"W-what?!" Makoto blushed, surprised by the question. "N-no, I'm not dating anyone. Why do you ask?" He already knew the answer to that. They both felt the same thing, he was sure of it.

"Just wondering."

"What about you, Haruka? Are you dating anyone?"

"Nope."

Some half hour or so later, Makoto was starting to feel a bit hungry. Luckily, there was an attendant going around, checking up on everyone and asking if anyone wanted anything. It wasn't the same attendant as before, Makoto noticed. This one was male and had long (for a boy), red hair.

Eventually he got to their seat. "Can I get either of you two anything?" He asked.

"I'll have just a mackerel sandwich and water, please." Makoto replied.

"What about you, sir?" He referred to Haruka.

"Just water." Haruka replied.

"Are you sure? Don't you want something to eat?"

Haruka turned towards him, "Yeah." Makoto saw the boy's eyes change when he saw Haruka's face and it… It made him feel guilty after he realized what it was, but it also made him feel protective over Haruka.

This was something Makoto had barely even heard of, it was so rare. Usually someone was supposed to have only one person who was perfect for them and they were supposed to be perfect for only one person. That's just how the world was meant to be. However, sometimes the world is just absolutely cruel and does something like this.

Makoto looked back at Haruka to see how he would react, only to get the urge to push the attendant boy away and make sure he stayed away. Haruka had that same light for him as well. Seeing this made Makoto's heart drop into his stomach. But, at the same time, he was glad for his circumstances. It was rather lucky that he was the one sitting next to Haruka while this boy would have to continue on with his job. Otherwise they could get together, instead of him and Haruka.

These thoughts and feelings surprised Makoto. He usually wasn't the type to be this way, but… Well, this time he was. But he was glad that he wasn't normally like this, because it sucked.

He selfishly cleared his throat to snap the two out of their trance. It was usually cute and exciting to see a couple meet like this for the first time, but not this time. Not for Makoto.

"Oh, r-right. Let me go get that for you." The boy stuttered, then ran off.

Makoto sighed and looked back to Haruka. He'd gone back to looking out the window again. Makoto was going to say something to him, but he got the feeling that he didn't really want to talk at that moment.

A questionable amount of time later…

Eventually the two did talk again. They talked about plenty of things and really started to get to know each other. (One thing Makoto found was weird was that Haruka didn't know that it was November! He had thought it was September.) It felt amazing just to talk to Haruka and it was also nice to know what everyone meant when they first found their _the one _without just guessing about how it would feel.

Luckily, that same attendant never came back. Sure, Makoto felt real bad for him, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel relieved. The chances of him ever finding another like him were a 1/1 billion of a chance.

As Makoto thought of this, he realized something that… Well, it actually kind of made him feel better. Usually when one meets his or her other, they would instantly know what they were like from past lives. Makoto barely knew anything about Haruka and what he did know was from talking to him here on the train. That would likely mean that before, in all his other past lives, he was probably with that attendant boy.

It seemed that Makoto's luck had yet to run out. If he had seen Haruka after that boy, again, he would have lost, again. Well, at least now he didn't feel bad about getting to him first. However, in its place, it made him feel bad that now that boy knew everything about Haruka while Haruka knew nothing about him. Another one of the cruel rules the world has.

"What's wrong?" Haruka's voice suddenly brought Makoto from his thoughts. He turned to look at the boy next to him, then receiving a worried look from him.

"I was just daydreaming." Makoto excused himself. It wasn't exactly a lie, but he didn't really want Haruka to know that he was thinking into this way too much.

Haruka nodded, then returned his gaze out the window.

It seemed they could see the water from where they were. Haruka looked as if he wanted to get off the train _immediately _to go dive in it. The sight made Makoto chuckle. He almost made a joke about it or something, but watching the glow in Haruka's eyes was just too much of a reason not to.

He found it funny how here he had just met this person, and already he seemed completely taken over by him. It was funny, but not funny, how they knew next to nothing about each other and already just watching him looking out the window, practically sparkles in his eyes as he gazed down at the water, made Makoto want to kiss Haruka. He had little of an idea how Haruka would react to that, but he knew it wouldn't exactly be a bad idea. He figured, if anything, Haruka would be mad at him for doing it in public, or something along the lines of that.

Sadly, however, the water passed by quickly, and soon the glow in Haruka's eyes dulled down back to normal (not that his eyes were dull, no, not at all). He sighed and moved away from the window a few inches. (Makoto didn't notice till now just how close he was in the first place.)

Their eyes made contact in the reflection of the window, making Makoto embarrassed for staring.

"What is it?" Haruka asked.

"N-nothing! I was just thinking how cute you were." Makoto quickly replied, instantly feeling the heat rush to his face as he realized what he just said.

Haruka paused, looking surprised. "You… Think I'm cute?"

"No!" Makoto shook his head, "I-I mean, yes, but-" he hid his head in his hands.

"It's alright. I think you're kind of cute, too." This wasn't helping Makoto's embarrassment.

Makoto felt him tugging at his hand. He looked up to see Haruka smiling at him, and not in the funny kind of way. He smiled back and allowed Haruka to take his hand as he sat up straight again.

Yes, more and more Makoto seemed to be falling deeply in love with this boy.

But, of course, their moment was not to last. They were too busy being infatuated with each other to really notice the oncoming danger to react to it.

So as Makoto stared into Haruka's eyes, and Haruka into his, they were suddenly thrown to the side against the window, Makoto harshly colliding into Haruka as well, as the train began to tip over. They didn't have anytime at all to think before they both blacked out.

When Makoto woke, it took him a moment to realize where he was. The blindingly white walls, the slight occasional beeping noise, the smell. Yeah, no doubt it was a hospital. He tried to sit up, but felt too exhausted to do so.

"Oh! You're awake! That's good." A plump nurse said as she entered the room. She has short brown hair, about the length of his own hair, and nice round, rosy cheeks. "We were starting to fear that you wouldn't wake up." She said in a cheerful tone.

"How long… Was I asleep?" Makoto breathily asked.

"Oh, Eleven days or so." She replied, going about her nursey business, "Almost two whole weeks!"

"Oh…" He paused, wondering if his family was worried about him. Hopefully not too much. "What happened?" Was his next question. Something in his chest told him that he didn't want to remember, but he knew he had to.

The lady frowned. "There was a bad accident. The train you were on was hit by another that derailed. Quite honestly, young man, you're lucky that you're alive…"

That's right. He could remember being thrown around before blacking out. But… There was something more he had forgotten about. But what?

The memory suddenly flashed before Makoto's unprepared eyes.

_Makoto awoke to an awfully horrid smell that made him gag and unable to breathe. Everything, absolutely _everything _hurt. His arms, his legs, head, back, and especially his chest. Oh, how his chest _ached_, almost as if his heart had been ripped right out. Slowly he tried to open his eyes, but even the faint light from above hurt But he had to look around and see what had happened, so he forced them open. _

_The first thing he noticed was the hand dangling a few inches from his face. That's when he began to piece together where he was. The train. The light was coming through the cracked window above him, so it was rather dark. _

_He wasn't even moving yet and it seemed like the world was spinning around him. He must have hit his head or something… _

_That's right, something hit the train and it.. It tipped. _

Where's Haruka? _The thought finally dawned on Makoto as he could already feel his consciousness starting to slip again. With all his will, he forced himself through the absolute agony of even moving a centimeter to look around more for the other male. _

_It wasn't hard. He had been right next to Makoto, and therefore still was. But that didn't make Makoto any more prepared for what he saw when he looked next to him. _

_There was blood, and an only increasing amount of it pooling next to him, all of it coming from his Haruka's head. Glass was littered all around, no doubt from the broken window above, and some pieces had inserted themselves into Haruka's cheek. But that wasn't even the worst part… _

_His eyes… They were open and no longer had that glow in them, not even a slight glow. No, they were dull as if all their light had left them. There was no life in them at all anymore. _

"_... Ha… Haru-... Haru- ka?" Makoto muttered, attempting to reach out toward the other male,but only succeeding in sending intense pain up his arm. He pushed through it anyway. He had to make sure that Haruka was okay! There was just _no _way that-... _

_As Makoto brushed his trembling fingers over the other's cut up cheek, it already had started to feel colder. _

_Tears instantly welled up in Makoto's eyes. "No, no no." Makoto repeated over and over and over, "Dear god, no, please don't do this!" He tried to shake the boy, but he himself was already falling back into his own unconscious, his head pounding and sight failing him. "Haru… ! Haruka! … Please… Please wake up… Please,... Ha-ru… ka…" _

"-Tachibana-kun!" The nurse's voice finally pulled Makoto from the painful memory.

He tried to take in deep breaths to calm his breathing. His hands were trembling terribly as well. He clenched them to make them stop. "Sorry." He apologized, "I just remembered something…"

"Oh, don't apologize, dear. Is there something I can help with?"

He thought for a moment. Did he really want to know any more? What if it wasn't good news? What if he really didn't want to know what happened? … What if-

No, no, no, there was no way that he was _actually _dead! MAkoto just couldn't believe that, he had to have hope! He just had to know the truth.

"Actually, maybe you can help me… ON the train, I was sitting next to someone. Would you know what happened to him?"

"I might. What was his name?"

"Haruka Nanase."

"Haruka Nanase, Haruka Nanase." She repeated, rolling her eyes up in thought, "No, the name's not ringing any bells. I can go checked to see if he has checked out or not, though. Maybe one of the other nurses has seen him." She smiled reassuringly.

"That would be great, thank you."

"Alright, dear, I'll get to that as soon as I can. Now-" And she went on to explain why he was in there and how long he should still be there and blah blah blah, all stuff that didn't really matter to Makoto at that moment. All he cared about was knowing that Haruka was safe.

The nurse came back no more than ten minutes later, a sullen look on her face. Not good at all.

"What is it?" Makoto asked wearily. "Where is he?" Panic set in even further when her only reply was a look of pity. "No. No, no! He can't be!" The beeping of the heart rate monitor began to speed up as he sat up, his voice getting louder. "Where is he?! .. Tell me where he is! Where's Haruka?!"

"Tachibana-kun, please. You have to calm down." The nurse practically whispered, lightly placing her hands on Makoto's arms.

"No!" Makoto pushed her away from him.

"I'm so sorry, dear. I really am. But I didn't see the name Haruka Nanase on the list. Are you sure that was his name? Your memory is a little foggy, still, isn't it?"

"Of course that's his name! I wouldn't forget it! I can't!"

"Shhh, it's okay. I'm sorry. If it's any consolation, I'm sure it was mostly painless."

_Mostly_ _painless?! _Jesus, was she trying to console him or lying to him?!

Makoto silently hung his head. He suddenly felt completely exhausted, again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

"No. Thank you." He sighed. "Maybe later." Though he said, that, he knew it would probably be a long while before he wanted to talk about it. Never had he felt this… _Empty _before… Like a piece of him had been ripped right out and torn to shreds. He felt like he knew how widows felt when their spouse died. He had only known Haruka for a few short hours and still he was so head over heels in love with the boy.

Haruka, the boy whose eyes shimmered at the sight of water. The boy who didn't think that something titled 'Ocean's Kiss' would be a romance. The boy who looked so cute with every little thing he said. The boy who had a feminine name, just like Makoto. The boy whose team was going to place first in the next championship.

Haruka, the boy who was absolutely perfect for Makoto, and Makoto who was absolutely perfect for Haruka, seemed to of never meant to be.

* * *

**A/N: So while writing this I thought to myself 'hey, why not base the accident off of an actual event?' And so then I spent like two hours trying to find something that would work and went with the Tsurumi rail accident on November 9th, 1963. (Here's the Wikipedia page for anyone interested, I guess. wiki/Tsurumi_rail_accident ) Not sure if it was worth the work finding it or not. Oh well. XD**

**I may or may not make this a series of sort that may or may not come to the same conclusion, but in different ways. Or maybe a nicer conclusion or something, I don't know yet. Still debating on whether this is an actual one-shot or not.**

**Anyway, please let me know what you think! This is my first time writing anything for Free! at all, so I'm curious as to how you all think I did. Any constructive criticism is always welcome!**

**Thank you for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Search

Haruka Nanase. Haruka Nanase. _The one _Haruka Nanase. He was alive. Definitely alive. He had to be. There was no way he could be… Dead…. No, that was just impossible.

Makoto searched for him. Constantly. Even after an entire year, he never did give up. His friends all thought he was crazy. They didn't have faith like he did. But they also didn't know Haruka like he did, they didn't love Haruka like he did…

There were plenty of times that Makoto had thought that he saw Haruka. There, sitting on the other side of the cafe, a few places ahead of him in line, a glimpse of him out of the corner of his eye mixed in with the rest of the crowd. It was obvious to him that most of it was just his imagination, but that didn't make him crazy. It just made him hopeful. After all, it had to be a sign that he was still alive, right? He knew Haruka was out there, somewhere, and he had to find him. No matter what it took and what it did to him and what it made everyone think of him, he had to. None of those things were more important than finding his love.

One particular spacer day, Makoto and his two closest friends were out to eat at their usual place. And again, there he was, sitting at that same place, just like always. Makoto tried not to look in that direction for too long, as not to worry his friends, but he just couldn't help it.

"Mako-chan, is something wrong?" His friend, Nagisa asked, bringing him from his thoughts.

Makoto turned to see them both giving him worried looks. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?" He asked.

"Makoto-san, are you alright?" Rei asked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Maybe just a little tired. That's all."

Nagisa wasn't believing it. "Is it him again…?" He knowingly asked.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about." Makoto feigned, taking a sip of his drink.

Nagisa and Rei exchanged glances. "Mako-chan, you really haven't forgotten about him, yet, have you?"

Makoto sighed. Of course they saw right through that. It was a poor attempt anyway. "No, I haven't. How could I? I love him and he loves me. Besides, it's not like he's dead. I know he's out there, so I have to find him…" He sighed, glancing down at the table, "I don't know what I'll do if I can't."

"You don't actually still believe that, do you?" Rei asked.

"Of course I do!"

"But Mako-chan, it's already been over a year. Don't you think it's time to mo-"

"What are you saying?!" Makoto exclaimed, surely catching the attention of everyone in the cafe, "Are you saying that I should just forget him?! Give up?! Pretend like we never met?!"

"No, that's not what I'm saying at all! And, please, keep your voice down! People are starting to look at us weirdly." Nagisa said, lowering his head closer to the table, "Look, all I'm saying is that sitting here, hoping for someone who's dead to co-"

"He's not dead!"

"- To come back is pointless and it will only continue to hurt you."

"We're not saying you forget about him or stop loving him." Rei added, "You just need to move on. What's done is done, and there's nothing anyone can do about it."

Makoto hung his head, "You guys just don't understand… You two have each other. Your _one _hasn't disappeared like mine has. You two have been practically inseparable basically since you've met."

They both gave him a look of pity. It was true. They've never had to go through anything like this like he is. They weren't as unlucky as he was.

Nagisa opened his mouth to say something, but Makoto was done listening. He didn't want to hear it anymore. And so he absent mindedly stared out the large window next to them instead.

That's when he saw him, standing there on the other side of the street, staring back at him. He motioned for Makoto to go out there and see him. It made Makoto's heart race with joy. Haruka really was alive!

With a clatter, Makoto stood from his seat.

"What is it now, Mako-chan?" Nagisa asked.

"He's there…" Makoto mumbled, unable to move.

They both turned to see what, or rather, who, he was talking about. As soon as they were distracted, Makoto took off, his feet doing all the thinking for him. Haruka!

Haruka began running away from him, but Makoto was more than determined to follow him. He _needed _to follow him. There was no way he could not follow him. And no way would he be able to forgive himself if he didn't catch up.

Haruka was a lot faster than Makoto imagined he would be. He was barely able to keep a steady distance while in a crowd of that size, let alone catch up. And sure enough, eventually Makoto lost sight of him.

He moved onto the nearby bridge to get a better look at the crowd. It didn't help much.

"Makoto." The voice came from seemingly nowhere. After all, no one was around and the only other things Makoto could hear was the bustling from the crowd and the trickling water beneath the bridge.

"Makoto." There it was again! It was clearly _his _voice, but where was it coming from?!

"Makoto!" Below?

Makoto went over to the side of the bridge and peered over. There he was, treading water, waving for Makoto to come down there and join him.

He smiled, bending over to take off his shoes and socks. Luckily, the ledge wasn't too high for him to climb up on top. It was cold against his butt, even through his pants,but he didn't really mind. He let his legs dangle over the edge a little before fully standing up.

"Makoto!" He heard Nagisa's and Rei's panicked voices behind him. Apparently they were running after him. Oops. "Makoto, what are you doing?! Get down from there before you get hurt!"

Most of the crowd had been moving on, minding their own business. But now they had stopped as well to see what all the commotion was. Makoto felt a bit embarrassed to be the center of attention like this, but at the same time, he didn't care because it would be worth it in the end anyway.

He cupped his hands over his mouth to be sure that they'd hear, "I found him, guys! I'm going to swim with Haruka, like we promised each other!" He pointed down at his love, to be sure that they got the point.

"You're crazy!"

"No, don't do it!" Some of the crowd's voices joined in with Nagisa and Rei.

"You can swim, too!" He inched toward the edge, preparing to dive in.

"Makoto, no!"

His feet left the ledge as he kicked off it and plunged head first into the waters below.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry this is so short, but... Well, I thought that was a 'good' place to end it. :3 **  
**I'm kind of nervous that I'm not writing Rei and Nagisa well enough (especially Rei). **

**For those who are wondering what's up with Haru... Well, you'll have to wait and see, I guess. Sorry. I don't want to spoil anything and/or change how you'll perceive something in the near future. **  
**I realize Makoto is pretty out of character now, but I had to. Sorry. **

**Hope you enjoyed! **


	3. Chapter 3: Admission

Makoto slowly opened his eyes. He felt quite disoriented and his head hurt. He attempted to move, but his muscles felt too heavy

"Mako-chan!" Nagisa, who he didn't even realize was there, exclaimed, "Are you okay?!"

"Hnnn… Head. Hurts." He grumbled.

"Do you remember what happened?" That was Rei's voice. So evidently he was here, too.

"Haruka… I found… Haruka."

There was a pause. "Mako-chan, there was no one there."

Makoto's eye twitched in annoyance. How could they say that? Haruka was _right there_ and they were still denying it?! Makoto felt like lashing out at them, let them know how wrong they were and how cruel of them it was to continue to insist something like that… But all that was in the past and so he knew lashing out would only make it worse.

"Uhm, also, Mako-chan…" Nagisa said after some period of time, "There's something important I have to let you know. We-'

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Rei interjected, "He just woke up. Maybe we should wait to tell him."

So now they're hiding stuff from him? Wonderful.

"Just tell me." Makoto said, trying hard not to sound too irritated, "I'm sure it's fine. I can handle whatever it is."

Nagisa sighed, " Rei and I admitted you to a mental hospital."

Makoto wasn't sure what to say. They did _what? _But why? There was no reason for that! He wasn't crazy! He knew that for a fact, and surely they didn't actually think he was, either, right?

But evidently they did…

"You really think I'm crazy…" Makoto stated.

"It's not that." Rei said, "We don't think you're crazy. You just need help. Help that we can't give you."

"... When"

"Sometime tomorrow."

"So soon? It's already been decided?"

"We're sorry, Mako-chan, but we had to. You have to go."

"No, it's alright. I get it… I'm sorry for causing so many problems for you guys." Because he knew that's what he did. Here he was spending all his time searching for someone they didn't even know when he had two great people who cared for him right there in front of him. Not to mention he'd snap at them whenever they'd say anything about Haruka. There were just worried about him, and he knew that, but… He couldn't help but reacting in such ways.

"I'm sure it will be fun." Nagisa said, trying to cheer him up.

"Yeah!" Rei joined in, "I sure it won't be that bad."

"You'll get to meet some new people and experience new things. It'll be great!"

"Yeah… Real great." Makoto said sarcastically, "I'm sure I'll just absolutely love it."

"Here is the cafeteria. You will eat here three times a day. Someone will likely escort you here and back each time, unless the doc says you're able to be on your own." A nice looking nurse lady gave Makoto a tour of the hospital where he would be staying for a while. Her black hair was tied up in a bun and red lips moved little as she spoke. "Here is the common area. You'll probably be spending most of your stay here." She waved her arm towards the room, then continued walking down the hallway, not giving Makoto much of a chance to actually get a look at it.

"And here-" She said, opening a door near the end of the hallway, "is your room. If you brought any belongings, some will be delivered here sometime this afternoon. You must be-"

"What do you mean some of my belongings?" Makoto rudely interrupted, "They're mine. Why don't I get to have all of them right now?"

"Because. We need to determine what you can and cannot have. This is a hospital, certain things just aren't allowed." She simply explained.

"Oh. I see." Truth be told, he didn't actually care about this rule, as he did not bring anything with him.

"Your roommate should be here right now. I wonder where he is…"

"Wait. My roommate?"

"Yes. Unless under certain circumstances, a patient must have a roommate. Maybe he's in the common area and I didn't notice him. Anyway, it's almost time for dinner. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable here while you wait." The nurse said, then quickly turned and left.

Makoto sighed. Already he could tell that he was not going to have the best of times here.

* * *

**A/N: So here is where the story _really _starts, I guess. **

**I do not have any personal experiences of what it's like in a mental hospital so all of my knowledge on them is from research. Therefore, I will apologize now if there is anything wrong with the one in this story. **


End file.
